The collection will feature both Halo: CE and Halo 2's original multiplayer

During a closed-door E3 presentation, 343 Industries’ Frank O’Connor, the Halo franchise’s director, discussed the Halo series’ future and Halo: The Master Chief collection, an upcoming Xbox One title set to bring every core Halo title to Microsoft’s new console.

O’Connor emphasized that the future of the Halo universe lays in the extended universe Microsoft has built around the franchise and pointed to Karen Traviss’ Glasslands as well as Eric Nylund’s The Fall of Reach, as examples of where 343 Industries can draw inspiration from.

He also explained that 343 Industries has a very hands-on approach when it comes to Halo’s extended universe.

“If we add extended fiction, we want to make sure it adds meaning to the universe,” said O’Connor

O’Connor also mentioned that every Halo multiplayer map ever released will be part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection (over 100 maps) and that through online matchmaking, players will be able to vote on what map and iteration of the Halo franchise they want to play on.

Since it’s the 10th anniversary of Halo 2, arguably the title that built Xbox Live into the go-to console platform for online gaming, the title is getting a Halo: CE Anniversary Edition style remake.

The game is set to feature upgraded graphics, designed specifically for the Xbox One, 30 new skulls, which is twice as many as any previous Halo titles and new terminals, which provide “bread crumbs” about Halo 5: Guardians‘ story.

Halo: The Masterchief Collection includes every core Halo title on one blu-ray.

While the entire Master Chief: Collection is designed as fan service, the fact that Halo 2‘s multiplayer is returning, in its untouched form, is perhaps the most exciting aspect of the collection, especially for long-time fans of the series. O’Connor explained that his team is developing a new engine based on the original Halo 2′s code.

How closely it recreates Halo 2‘s original multiplayer experience remains to be seen, but if 343 Industries has been listening to fan feedback from Halo: CE Anniversary, then the experience should be nearly identical to the old school Halo 2 multiplayer action many people grew up with.

“We wanted to take a look at Halo Anniversary and see what we did right and what we did wrong, and then make sure we correct all the things we did wrong. One of the things we did wrong with Halo CE: Anniversary was not include the original multiplayer and I think that was a miss on our part.” said a representative from 343 Industries, who was helping O’Connor with the presentation.

An interesting unforeseen complication that will pop up when jumping between various Halo titles on the fly is their various control schemes featured in each game. 343 Industries is giving gamers the option of one universal control setup or jumping between each title’s original controls. For purists, jumping from Halo 4 to Halo 2‘s duel wielding should be an interesting experiment in muscle memory, even for seasoned veterans of the series.

Six popular Halo 2 maps are getting remade with updated visuals in Halo: The Masterchief collection.

O’Connor also described Nightfall, the upcoming Halo mini-series being developed by Ridley Scott as a,“significant evolution from what we did with forward unto dawn,” and emphasized that access to the series will be part of Halo: The Master Chief Collection.

All of Halo 2‘s maps will be part of this collection but six fan favourites are getting remade for the Xbox One. Halo: Combat Evolved‘s multiplayer, originally only available through system-link local play, or through third-party tunnelling services like XBConnect, will also be available in the Master Chief collection in its original, untouched form.

When asked why his studio didn’t opt to remake every Halo title included in the package, O’Connor gave a joking answer and explained that both Halo 3 and Halo 4have actually received some visual improvements.

“We didn’t really need that and besides it’s not the 10th anniversary of halo 3 and 4 [laughs].”

Microsoft’s next original Halo game is Halo 5: Guardians. Handout/Microsoft

In The Master Chief Collection both Halo 3 and 4 will be rendered at 1080p and 60 frames per sec. O’Connor also gave an explanation as to why off-shoot titles like Halo Wars, Halo: Reach and Halo: ODST aren’t including in the collection.

“They didn’t really deal with the Master Chief story arc, we had to set guide posts and if we didn’t have a start and end point we would have been adding halo wars. We just had to make something that is rational,” O’Connor said.

The Master Chief Collection will also give gamers access to Halo 5: Guardians‘ multiplayer-focused beta this December. Halo: The Master Chief Collection is set to launch on Nov. 11, 2014.

Frank O’Connor talks about the future of the Halo franchise at E3 2014.